Rocks and Landscapes
Situated within the Central Queensland Sandstone Belt, and straddling the Great Dividing Range, Carnarvon National Park preserves and presents significant elements of Queensland's geological history including two sedimentary basins, the Bowen and the Surat, and the Buckland Volcanic Province. The youngest rocks in the area are the igneous basalt rocks of the Buckland volcanic Province, which were laid down between 35 and 27 million years ago. Since that time, water and wind have eroded the park's landscapes into a network of sandy plains, valleys, and gorges separated by basalt-capped tablelands and ranges.
The park is rich in groundwater, numerous springs. The elevated areas protected within Carnarvon National Park have high value for above-ground catchments as well. Five major river systems rise within the park's boundary: the Comet, Dawson, Maranoa, Nogoa, and Warrego. The Warrego and Maranoa lie inland of the Great Dividing Range on the northern boundary of the Murray-Darling Basin.
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“We envy not the warmer clime, that lies
In ten degrees of more indulgent skies,
Nor at the coarseness of our heaven repine,
Though o’er our heads the frozen Pleiads shine:
‘Tis Liberty that crowns Britannia’s Isle,
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“We envy not the warmer clime, that lies
In ten degrees of more indulgent skies,
Nor at the coarseness of our heaven repine,
Though o’er our heads the frozen Pleiads shine:
‘Tis Liberty that crowns Britannia’s Isle,
And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)